SOFTBALL

The DC Generals hosted a slo-pitch softball tournament yesterday at Frederick, Maryland. The New England Evolution men’s team took home the championship and $600 cash prize when they defeated DC Generals 8-7 in a hotly contested championship game. New Jersey Bombers defeated Tide Tidewaters for third place.

The women’s tournament had three teams and the Eastern Reapers came out on top followed by Jersey Strong for second place and Tides Sugar Skulls for third place.

This afternoon, Kinast was elected to replace Vance Rewolinski as the commissioner of National Softball Association of the Deaf. Rewolinski has stepped down after serving 22 years as tournament director and commissioner. Rod Jex was elected by proxy to replace Kinast as treasurer. Sherri Mize continues as secretary by ACL. Indianapolis has been selected as the tentative tournament site for 2016.

The Fremont Hoy’s Boys had to take a detour to its’ fifth straight National Association of the Deaf (NSAD) Men’s championship title. The Hoy’s Boys earned a top seed after the round robins but the team was sucker punched in the first game in bracket play by the Sioux Falls Blue Sox, 17-14. This stunning loss put Hoy’s Boys in the losing bracket where no team were able to seriously challenge the team except for the New England Evo. The Hoy’s Boys needed an extra inning to get past Evo, 13-11. This loss marked the second straight year that the Evo were not able to defeat the Hoy’s Boys as they lost to Hoy’s Boys in the 2014 championship game.

Chicago Mafia stood in the Hoy’s Boys way for a change to avenge the earlier loss to Blue Sox and they got trounced 13-1 to set up a rematch. The Blue Sox defeated California 3B 10-7 and Chicago Mafia 15-5 to earn a spot in the championship round.

This marks the second trip to the championship game for the Blue Sox where they had to share the championship with the Hoy’s Boys in 2013 in the infamous lights out scenario in Maryland.

The Blue Sox had a 5-4 lead in third inning but eventually lost it when Hoy’s Boys scored six runs to take a 10-5 lead to start the fourth inning. Blue Sox were able to cut Hoy’s Boys lead to 10-9 in the fourth inning. But then the floodgates opened and the Hoy’s Boys bats got on fire. They steadily built their lead to 19-9 to take the first game to force the second and deciding game.

The second game had offensive fireworks to start the game as the Hoy’s Boys had a quick start to the first inning taking a 5-0 lead. The Blue Sox responded with a three-run homer by Alex Weis to cut the lead to 5-3 for the first inning. The second inning saw the Hoy’s Boys extend its lead to 9-3 but Alex Weis came to the Blue Sox’s rescue again with his second three-run homerun to cut the lead to 9-7. After the third inning showed that the Blue Sox were unable to keep up with the Hoy’s Boys as they built their lead to 19-7 before they scored again in the fourth inning and staged a mini-rally to 19-12. But this pretty much marked the end for Blue Sox as the Hoy’s Boys bats kept churning out runs to win the 2015 championship 28-16 and five in a row. Joel Gonzales of Hoy’s Boys was named MVP.

The Midwest Runnin’ Rebels took home the 2015 National Softball Association of the Deaf Women’s championship with a 17-10 over the top seeded Eastern Lady Reapers. Running’ Rebels started the day as the number two seed after losing its only tournament match to Lady Reapers in the round robins, 11-7 yesterday afternoon.

In the day’s first game, the Runnin’ Rebels were too much for Worcester as they moved to the second round with a 19-4 win. This set up for the first match of the day between Runnin’ Rebels and Lady Reapers. With both teams meeting for the second time in two days, Runnin’ Rebels took the win, 5-2 to force the Lady Reapers to go through the loser’s bracket.

The Lady Reapers squeaked past Worcester, 7-6 for another chance against Runnin’ Rebels but it was not meant to be as Runnin’ Rebels took the crown.

Results of the 2015 National Softball Association of the Deaf men’s bracket at Omaha, Nebraska on Friday, Saturday, August 8th.

The Sioux Falls Blue Sox have advanced to the championship game for a rematch with the Fremont Hoy's Boys. Fremont Hoy's Boys have forced a second and deciding game after winning the first game 19-9 in the championship round.